Chapter 10 - Question 5 - Dajanka

First of all I need to say that the beginning of the chapter ten was very complicated to read. The Federal Reserve System seems to be a very complicated concept to understand and I struggled with it a lot. However, when Wheelan started to explain the role of money and inflation I started to feel a lot more confident and actually enjoyed the rest of this cahpter.
The part that was super interesting to me was the one where he explained how to concept of money works in places where money are not allowed-prisons. It is striking how innovative people can be. Cigarets and later mackerel cans... Few years ago I saw a document about Russian prison in siberia where men are "paying" each other with pictures of naked women. It was a bit shocking but on the other hand it was making sense. The nicer (more realistic) the picture is the more value it has. Similarly, the better artist you are the more wealthy you get. The good ones are scarce and thus have a value. Another interesting fact about this kind of "money" is that people do not show them to each other unless they are trading. Dollar bills, mackerel cans or cigarets all look the same but each one of these pictures differs. Thus, just before the actual payment the seller decides if he is going to make a deal or not. Otherwise the prisoners are not showing them to each other in order to maintain the value of each picture.
I just thought it is interesting.